A 25 year old protesting the Paraguay re-election has died

Protestors set fire to the Congress building during a
demonstration against a possible change in law to allow for
presidential re-election in AsuncionThomson Reuters

ASUNCION (Reuters) - A protester was killed in Paraguay after a
secret Senate vote for a constitutional amendment that would
allow President Horacio Cartes to run for re-election sparked
violent clashes and the country's Congress was stormed and set
alight.

Rodrigo Quintana, 25, was killed by a rubber bullet fired by
police in the headquarters of the liberal youth activist group,
the Paraguayan opposition said.

The interior ministry said in a statement an investigation into
Quintana's death would be opened. His doctor said he had suffered
a severe head injury.

On Saturday activists were arriving in Paraguay's capital
Asuncion from the landlocked country's interior in a sign the
violent protests that resulted in a fire in the first floor of
Congress on Friday could continue.

Cartes called for calm and a rejection of violence in a statement
released on Twitter. He promised the government would do its best
to maintain order.

Firefighters managed to control the flames after protesters left
the building late on Friday, although protests and riots
continued in other parts of Asuncion and elsewhere in the country
into the early hours of Saturday.

Around 200 protesters were detained, police said, and shops and
government buildings were vandalized.

Several politicians and journalists were injured, local media
reported, and Interior Minister Tadeo Rojas said several police
were hurt. One member of the lower house of Congress, who had
been participating in protests that afternoon, underwent surgery
after being hit by rubber bullets.

Meetings for the Inter-American Development Bank's annual board
of governors were beginning as scheduled on Saturday in a rare
high-level international event in Paraguay.

While Paraguay has long suffered from political uncertainty, the
soy and beef-exporting nation has been attracting investment in
agriculture and manufacturing sectors in recent years as Cartes
offered tax breaks to foreign investors.

Instability in the country of 6.8 million is a concern for its
much larger neighbors Brazil and Argentina.

The Senate voted on Friday during a special session in a closed
office rather than on the Senate floor. Twenty-five lawmakers
voted for the measure, two more than the 23 required for passage
in the 45-member upper chamber.

Opponents of the measure, who claim it would weaken Paraguay's
democratic institutions, said the vote was illegal.

The proposal will also require approval by the House, where it
appeared to have strong support. A vote which had been expected
early on Saturday was called off until the situation calmed down,
said the chamber's president, Hugo Velazquez.